MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that his country wanted to assist in stopping a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, western media reported on Monday. Reuter reported that the Russian President expressed these remarks while talking to the Prime Minister of Israel.
Israeli-Palestinian war and Gaza
In a statement, the Kremlin stated President Putin expressed his country’s willingness to work towards “ending the Israeli-Palestinian war and achieving a peaceful settlement via diplomatic and political means”.
Putin spoke to five of the major regional countries in an attempt to secure a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Palestine. Russia has said several times that the West and the US have ignored the need for an independent Palestinian nation within 1967 borders.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov apprised President Putin that the situation was escalatory, that Israeli army acts were “indiscriminate” and that the danger was that Israel would start a ground offence against Gaza.
“The risk is high that this entire conflict gets out of control,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told President Putin at a meeting also attended by top Russian military officials.
He added that Washington was ultimately responsible for the crisis in Gaza due to its failed policy in the Middle East and that the US was blocking a Russian-backed resolution in the UNSC.
President Putin said the ongoing violence in the Middle East suggests just how far Washington’s policy in the region has failed.
